Reverse Resources is an online platform for tracking and trading connecting and formalising the textile supply chain whilst also tracing textile waste from manufacturers to textile-to-textile recyclers.
Based in Europe, the company has operations across the globe in manufacturing hubs such as India, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Northern Africa and China, with the aim of enabling the apparel industry to use textile waste as the preferred raw material and reduce the use of virgin material.
In an exclusive interview between Team PERFECT SOURCING and Ann Runnel, Founder & CEO of Reverse Resources, Ann explained how the company is solving the core problems of textile waste management in factories and traditional waste handlers.
This enables the industry to move more rapidly towards not only sustainable fashion but also circular supply chains.
“Our estimates are that up to 47% of fabric and fibre is wasted at the various phases of production. Also, more than 80% of textile waste moves through 4-5 middle men without any market insight,” explained Ann
.
While waste material handling is an issue in itself, it is also critical to know which waste is worth segregating by composition in order to maintain the value for high-quality recyclers.
Manufacturers usually sell the waste material without segregating it and thus get a lower price for it. At the same time, recyclers could pay 30% more for the raw material due to the inefficiencies of the sourcing process.
“Currently there is no organised system for data and statistics market insight and no common categorization of the waste. Fashion brands are completely dependent on the disorganized supply chain and have no tools or intelligence that can assist them in sourcing cheaper and higher quality waste for recycling and eventual inclusion in their product lines,” she added.
Reverse Resources is a software as a service (SaaS) platform that offers a sustainable and circular solution to this major global challenge of textile waste management.
It does this by providing 360° transparency of the waste flows and making the sourcing of waste far more manageable efficient and affordable for recyclers.
Reverse Resources’ tracking and trading matchmaking and tracing platform for textile and post-consumer waste is connecting fashion brands, manufacturers, waste handlers and recyclers and building the infrastructure to scale circular supply chains.
“Our goal is to provide garment factories with a tool that provides transparency about their production leftovers for the brands they serve. We want brands, producers and recyclers to reuse and recycle leftovers from production,” said Ann
Instead of physically gathering and recycling these materials, Reverse Resources works on developing software and improving data movement about materials”.
For garment factories, the platform provides a digital warehouse where composition, quantity and background of the leftover materials are recorded.
For waste handlers, the platform provides a digital warehouse where they can access the RR network.
Reverse Resources then offers them the opportunity to work with pre-segregated textile scraps, and expand their network of recyclers and increase their business through working as part of the formal supply chains of large fashion brands.
For recyclers / spinners, the platform provides an overview of the number different types of leftovers by composition, waste types, their background and availability in various locations.
For brands, the platform provides real-time and monthly statistics on waste streams from their suppliers, it allows them to keep track of their own KPIs and shows how much of their production waste has been
recycled.
